From the moment the former Jersey City mayor won an upset victory in New Jersey’s GOP gubernatorial primary, Democrats began licking their chops at the prospect of taking on an unabashed conservative. As far as Democratic nominee Jim McGreevey is concerned, Schundler’s middle name is either “extremist” or “out of the mainstream.”

Indeed, to hear McGreevey tell it, the only issues facing New Jersey this fall are abortion, gun control and embryonic stem-cell research. Whatever happened to property taxes, auto insurance and getting rid of tolls on the Garden State Parkway?

Yet Schundler seems to be playing right into McGreevey’s hands. To answer the predictable assault, Schundler has unleashed a counter-offensive that not only reminds voters of his stand on social issues (a very questionable move in moderate New Jersey), but may reinforce the image he’s trying to counter.

Schundler’s hard-hitting radio ad tries to lob the ideological ball back into McGreevey’s court: It charges that, by questioning Schundler’s anti-abortion position, McGreevey is smearing Catholics (who make up 40 percent of the electorate).

“It saddens me that Jim McGreevey and his supporters are using words like ‘extremist’ and ‘wacko’ to describe those who are pro-life,” Schundler says in the ad. “Is the pope an extremist? Was Mother Teresa a wacko?”

Schundler doesn’t back off from his pro-life position – “I don’t apologize for my faith,” he says – but stresses that “the U.S. Supreme Court has created a legal right to abortion” and “no governor can change that.”

Then he takes the offensive: “By implying that those who agree with the Catholic teaching on abortion are unfit for public office, Jim McGreevey is creating a religious test that would take us back to the intolerant days before Kennedy was president.”

Is turning the charge of extremism to one of tolerance for dissenting views a clever way for Schundler to force McGreevey onto the defensive?

Well, the ad is certainly a lot more clever than Schundler’s initial foray, when he labeled McGreevey an “ayatollah” who favors a “religious test.” That, most observers agree, was pretty disastrous: Schundler only reinforced the very charge – extremism – that McGreevey was trying to make in the first place.

But don’t expect the Democrats to back off for fear of being labeled intolerant. They’re convinced they’ve got a winning issue; clearly, Schundler is swimming against the New Jersey ideological tide.

And, while it’s terrific to see a New Jersey Republican refusing to apologize for his party’s views – indeed, proudly affirming them – Schundler has to remember that this is also about political strategy. And letting your opponent define the issues is not the winning ticket.

Nor does it help that Schundler still has to overcome the backhanded support of the state GOP establishment, whose butts he firmly kicked in the June primary.

Take Christie Whitman, who’s saddled Schundler with the baggage of her weak-kneed policies and apologetic leadership. The ex-governor recently told The Washington Post that she doubted Schundler’s “positions are compatible with, on some issues, most of New Jerseyans.”

National GOP figures are giving more constructive help. Gov. Tom Ridge of neighboring Pennsylvania, a social liberal, this week stumped with Schundler and said he had no qualms about supporting him, despite their “respectful disagreement” on some issues.

“I think [his is] a pretty conservative agenda,” Ridge said, “and I embrace it.” He can do so, he added, because the two are “very compatible” on issues like health care, education and taxes.

Which is precisely the message Bret Schundler should be getting: Make McGreevey campaign on the issues that got Schundler nominated in the first place – high property taxes and auto-insurance rates, getting rid of tolls on the Garden State Parkway and cronyism in Trenton.

Those are issues on which it will be far easier for Schundler to convince the voters that he’s got the better answers.